Chapter 10

Barty Blake was well aware of the four teen-agers that had met on his front porch and he waited through dinner for Daphne to admit that he was right and that they were asking more of her. Daphne, on her part, was not yet ready to make any such admission and was determined to get this figured out at the teen-ager level and be able to present to her father the resolution of the problem as a fait accompli. So, dinner was just the normal sniping between Daisy and Daphne punctuated by the occasional reprimand from Nan, the matriarch of the Blake Clan.

Daphne, Fred, and Velma arrived at Shaggy's address around 8:00 PM. An elderly man answered the door and then turned back into the house. "Norville, I believe your friends are here."

All three wanted to correct the use of the word 'friends' but held their tongues.

Instead of Norville, a woman of about forty came around a corner and introduced herself. "Hi. I'm Paula, Norville's mother." She seemed to examine the three youths. "You certainly are… um… more clean-cut than I anticipated."

What do you say to that?

They were saved from having to respond by Shaggy coming down the steps. "Let's go out back and avoid the inquisition."

Paula followed them with "Remember to stay within eyesight of the house."

"Yes ma'am." Shaggy called over his shoulder as the group went through the house and headed down to a decaying old deck in the backyard with a set of wrought iron table and chairs.

Velma looked back at the house. "This is nice. I thought you were really poor."

This being his third conversation with Velma, Shaggy was getting used to her candor. "We are poor. The bank foreclosed on our farm back in Plainsville, California. We lost everything. This is my great uncle's place. He's letting us stay here a while."

Fred's turn to be blunt. "Who came up with Shaggy?"

"Scooby Doo named me that."

Fred turned to Scooby. The dog answered, "Risn't it obvious?"

Daphne looked around at the smallish backyard. "Let's do what we have to do here so that I can get home."

The exterior lights came on, brightly illuminating the deck. A glance at the house revealed Paula's worried face in the window. Shaggy waved at her and the curtains closed.

"Sorry guys. Things are a little weird around here right now."

Velma didn't want to seem like she didn't care, but she didn't care. She pulled her laptop out of her backpack and opened it on the table. "I assume Sanders01 is the wi-fi connection. What's the password?"

Shaggy gave it.

While Velma typed, she spoke. "After we met this afternoon, I started approaching this from the point of view that none of the four of us is guilty. But we are the only ones that the security system showed as being in the building Friday evening."

Fred jumped in. "A classic, locked door mystery!"

Velma shrugged. "With an electronic twist. There are also cameras on every exterior door. The video recordings must also have shown no one but us in the building over the weekend. That means that someone must have fooled the security system. So, that system is the key and I need to read its specifications."

Daphne remained impatient. "So, hack into the security system and figure out what they did."

Velma looked back at her. "Hack in? How on earth would I know how to do that?"

"You're the brainiac. People like you can hack into things."

"Security systems are designed so that people like me can't hack into them."

Fred leaned in. "So, we need a username and password for the school system."

Velma's flat voice belied her frustration. "And how do we get those?"

Fred smiled. "From Mr. Deedle's office."

Shaggy had not been high in two days and his brain was clear. He wished it wasn't. "Like, so in order to prove that we didn't break into Mr. Deedle's office, we have to break into Mr. Deedle's office?"

"Exactly!" Fred was smiling.

Scooby had been sitting quietly on the deck until this point. "Rhumans aren't right in the head."

"What Scooby said." Shaggy chimed.

"I'm in." It was Daphne. "The police are useless and, if we are going to get past this, we have to take some risks."

"That's it!" Fred beamed. "Daph's got it!"

Daphne whirled on him. "Daph?!"

Fred tried for nonchalant. "I call girls I like by nicknames. It's kind of my thing."

Sometimes Velma's emotionless voice was perfect. "You say that as if it was a good thing."

Daphne shrugged. "His being an idiot doesn't change the fact that blondie is right. We have to take the offensive on this thing."

Other times Velma's emotionless voice didn't fit at all. "That's easy for you to say. If we get caught, you have an army of lawyers that'll march in and get you off. You have no consequences."

"Like they marched in and got the stoner off?" Every time Daphne spoke to these people, she became more convinced that her father was right.

Shaggy jumped in. "And you didn't have to do that for me. I hope you know how much I appreciate it."

Velma backed off. "I suppose what I said was unfair given the present circumstances. I apologize. And I concur that we have to take action."

Daphne finished the point. "So, we need to move forward with stalker-boy's plan."

From Fred's point of view, things had just taken a sour turn. "Stalker-boy?"

Daphne turned to him. "I call misogynistic jerks by nicknames. It's kind of my thing."

Velma repressed the urge to raise a palm to high-five Daphne. She would probably be left hanging.

"Wait!"

Everyone turned to Shaggy.

"Don't Scooby Doo and I get a vote?"

Daphne laid down her patient-mother tone of voice. "Certainly. And what are your votes?"

"No!"

"Roe!"

Daphne smiled. "That makes it three to two. The motion carries. Thank you for voting."

"Sometimes democracy isn't all it's cracked up to be." Shaggy muttered.

"Reah. Remocracy."

Velma nodded. "We'll meet up in school tomorrow and finalize the plan."

Daphne's head popped up. "In school?"

Fred joined in. "Why don't we finalize the plan now so that we don't have to wait until the last minute."

Shaggy smiled. "Dude, if you don't want to be seen with us, just say so."

Fred relaxed. "It's not that I don't want to be seen with all of you. It's just that I don't want to be seen with you and you." He pointed at Velma and Shaggy.

Daphne understood. "And I don't want to be seen with any of you. Let's just figure everything out now."

Shaggy looked at Velma. "I wouldn't mind being seen with you."

Velma searched for words. "I probably shouldn't be seen with a stoner. It might affect my college applications."

Scooby lifted his head from his paws. "Rhis is reriously cold. Ice cold."

The rest of the night was spent making a plan.

When Daphne, Fred, and Velma had left, Shaggy walked back to the house. His mother and uncle had both gone to bed. He quietly walked up to his bedroom with Scooby padding softly behind. When he got there, he looked at Scooby. "Scooby Doo, this has probably been the worst few days of my life. I think I need a little something for my anxiety."

"Roo've done fine rithout it for the past few days."

"No. I haven't. I was in jail and then my mom's been watching me like a hawk. I just need to calm down a little."

"Rye can't stop roo, can I?"

"I really need this."

Shaggy pulled out his baggie of pot and his pipe and headed back out to the deck. He didn't turn on the lights. Scooby saw the brief flash of the lighter and then watched the orange glow until it finally went out. He sighed.